Bob was sitting at his desk staring at a stack of resumes. It’s déjà vu all over again. Bob was in the process of filling the same job – for the third time in two years. If you asked him if he had a turnover problem, he’d quickly point out that seven of his nine direct reports have been with him for many years. He just hasn’t been able to find the right people for those other two spots. This is a common occurrence in many organizations.

Bob had a phone call from Mary, the new Regional VP. She asked what wasn’t right about the new employee. Bob gave the answer that Mary was used to hearing – he seemed perfect in the interview, but a different person started work. He began showing signs of frustration almost immediately. He was mentally checked-out by the end of his second month and soon after submitted his two-week notice.

Then, Mary asked a much harder question. “What are you going to differently this time?” She pointed out that Bob wasted valuable time interviewing candidates for these two jobs. The turnover impacted other employees who had to cover these duties during the vacancies.

It was apparent to Mary that Bob wasn’t viewing his staffing problem as a business problem with real costs. He viewed it as a staffing problem. Mary pointed out that repetitive turnover usually has its roots in one – or more – of four problems. One, it could be the boss. Two, it could be the co-workers. Three, it could be the job description. Or four, it could be the candidates.

The Davidson Group would recommend the following three activities to address Bob’s hiring issue.

First, we would conduct an employee engagement survey and a job analysis for branch employees. This could highlight if any employees of the team are contributing to the repeated failures of new hires. It also helps identify to what extent the combination of duties assigned to those two jobs are a contributing factor.

Second, Bob would complete our Executive Coaching assessment. This assessment highlights the strengths and weaknesses of a manager. It is a data-driven approach to identify issues that impact interactions with employees.

Third, we would create a new pre-employment assessment for those jobs. Given to top candidates, it provides helpful data before a person is hired.

Call the Davidson Group at 336-294-5053 to reduce employee turnover and improve your hiring process.